This invention relates to sheet stack formers for tapping or jogging a loosely formed stack of sheets to form an even stack. More particularly, the invention relates to a jogging mechanism for simultaneously jogging a plurality of loosely formed sheet stacks once they have been deposited in an array of vertically spaced receiver bins of a sheet sorter or the like.
Typical sheet jogging mechanisms include two or more opposed jogging rods pivotally mounted to swing or rock to and from a jogging position in which they extend in spaced mutually parallel lines adjacent the sides of the sheets. As the opposed jogging rods are swung or rocked to their jogging positions, they simultaneously engage or tap the sides of and thus even the loosely stacked sheets therebetween. Several sheet jogging mechanisms have been devised for moving the jogging rods in this manner; however, such mechanisms and linkages have been complex and reliability has been a problem. Thus, the need exists for a simple, highly reliable mechanism for moving the jogging rods in unison while maintaining desired mutual parallelism of the jogging rods at the jogging position and, hence, accurately aligning the edges of the sheets in the stack or stacks.